


come gain your merit

by womenlovingwonderwoman (The_Camel_Queen)



Series: is it not better to live (turn the stones into bread) [4]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Anxiety, Autistic Entrapta (She-Ra), Bow Is a Good Friend (She-Ra), Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Catra Needs Therapy (She-Ra), Depression, F/F, Glimmer Needs a Hug (She-Ra), Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, POV Adora (She-Ra), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Princess Catra (She-Ra), Queen Catra (She-Ra), adoptee trauma, adora is a little bit more of a reliable narrator in this, and also so much better, bow (she-ra) needs a hug, but as bad as things look now it will get worse, but she's not the only pov, i also think i gave angella a bad rap in this story so consider this her redemption arc, i love her character i just wanted to critique it, pov angella, some of it will be happier than others, this is a little breather while i write the next installment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28835772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Camel_Queen/pseuds/womenlovingwonderwoman
Summary: We come to grips with what is gone, so we can build something new.Three stories as Adora does just that.
Relationships: Adora & Angella (She-Ra), Adora & Bow & Catra & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora & Bow (She-Ra), Adora & Entrapta (She-Ra), Adora & Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Glimmer & Micah (She-Ra)
Series: is it not better to live (turn the stones into bread) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877491
Comments: 52
Kudos: 138





	1. Adora and Angella

“Adora?” Angella asks, blinking in surprise at the girl standing in her gardens. The blonde whips around, going into a sort of curtsy bow, putting a hand up in a salute.

“Ma’am! I mean—your majesty—my queen—um—”

Angella puts up a hand, silencing Adora and narrowing her eyes at the display.

“At ease,” she says, striding past her to a nearby bench. “Come sit with me for a minute.” It’s a command, Angella makes it one, and watches as the young soldier takes a cautious seat beside her. Angella had sat leaving room only on her right so Adora would be forced to have her blind side facing Angella.

They are silent, and Angella drinks in Adora’s audible discomfort, the way sweat glistens at her temple in the cool night air, and the way her gaze is frozen facing forward.

“Tell me, Adora,” Angella says when Adora seems about to collapse, “How are you finding Bright Moon?”

“Fine—good, good I mean. Thank you for—”

“You are enjoying the food? Comfortable?”

“Oh, yes I—”

“If your bed is not suitable, you know, we can always find one more similar to Princess Catra’s. Since you are intent on staying with her most nights.”

Adora goes a sickly pale, her hands clenching into fists, Angella watches it carefully.

“See that you don’t become too comfortable, She-Ra,” Angella tells her.

“Yes ma’am,” the voice is dull and very quiet. Angella gets to her feet and Adora snaps to them too.

There is not much more to say, Angella might wish her a good night’s sleep but it wouldn’t be genuine. She leaves the gardens and does not hear footsteps behind her.

* * *

It’s not often Angella allows herself the privilege of nostalgia. Memory is such a fickle thing, and every time she dusts off that which is oldest and most precious, she knows it becomes a little bit less, a little bit distorted. But there is something about this Force Captain that rings through her memories like the dinner bell her mother used to sound off to tell her to come in.

When she was young she traveled all over Etheria. Her people were nomadic, and her mother carried her over oceans and forests and mountains soaring through clouds and time itself. She spent a few decades of her adolescence in Half Moon, the Magicat city, and center of their kingdom. Her mother had some business with the royal family but she was free to wander, as her ancestors called her to do, and she and the children of the city raced one another atop the walls and buildings and deep below in the catacombs.

Even then, before the rise of the Horde, when some of the elders in Angella’s family still remembered the First Ones, the Magicats were a private people. Locked inside their own kingdom, the outer villages acting as another layer of wall, not even their language was widely known. Angella remembers wandering those catacombs with her young friends, having them read to her from different stories in their secret archives. In those months they had together there were no borders or walls, it was just them, the simple loyalty of innocence and youth.

Days after they left, Angella checked her bag to find someone had slipped her a book. One of the few written in mostly Etherian. She had treasured it, Angella remembered that, but this memory was an older one, and ever since she had taken Catra in she had returned to it more often than her others. It is more distorted than the rest, and for the life of her she cannot remember where the book is.

The story, as best she can remember it, ends in tragedy. Two magicats, both born with a single eye, a story spanning decades of strife and poverty, told mostly in verse for the ease of the teller. They die young, Angella remembers, die alone and die yearning.

She spends a good few afternoons searching for it in the dusty Bright Moon libraries.

* * *

“Adora,” Angella greets, not as surprised as she was the first time.

“Y-your majesty,” Adora has decided on a bow and she dips low. “My apologies for disturbing your evening I was just—”

“No need to apologize,” Angella interrupts. She is an impatient immortal, and an imperfect angel, and she is perhaps more contradictions than she is a queen or a mother. “The gardens are quite lovely at night. I can’t imagine you saw much flora in the Fright Zone.”

“No I—the first time I saw plant life like this was during my first campaign,” Adora’s voice is quiet but unwavering. It locks in something in Angella’s gut and she doesn’t hesitate.

“I was hoping I would find you here tonight actually, Adora.” Angella holds out the tome she spent days searching for. It’s as ripped and tattered as it was in her childhood, dusty and faded and well-loved in its obscurity. “I thought you might enjoy this. It’s a relic from my childhood, if you would believe it.”

Adora stares at it, “Um—I would be honored, or—” Adora takes it gingerly, her hands shaking a little as she thumbs through the pages.

“Did you have reading for pleasure, in the Fright Zone?”

“We didn’t have pleasure,” Adora mutters, and turns bright red. With a few muttered apologies she runs off and Angella watches her, feeling lighter than air.

* * *

The plague that ran through their blood took their eye first. It always took the eye first. It swallowed up an eye each, replacing it with inky darkness. The condition was chronic, would worsen until it swallowed up half their body. But, and this is the last piece of goodness the book tells, there was a cure.

She knows how it ends but as she rereads it she distinctly remembers the scene of the two women setting out together to find the cure, not letting fear make permanence in their hearts. It is proof, at the least, that the memory is distorted and untrustworthy.

The two women are not women. They are children. When Angella read this as a child she hadn’t batted an eye, neither had her companions, but now she can feel the brittle parts of the page where it is stained with tears, the heaviness of the ink and parchment, each word placed with such intense care. She knows it is a priceless artifact, but now it’s heavy with the weight of epiphany too. That she has grown and her characters are the same age, and the author has not grown with her. Most people, Angella is forced to come to this realization far too often, are children to her now.

Heartbreakingly, as Angella keeps rereading, the children do not leave—they are left. Their only hope of return is the cure.

The book smells of nostalgia, the verse is beautiful and glides through the story with an elegance Angella only remembers her mother inhabiting. The ancient art moves on its own and nearly climbs off the page and the journey, the words itself, the characters are as real to her as her kingdom, her cause.

But the story is only as real to her as her age, and she is as disheartened as she is disenchanted.

* * *

“And what did you think of it?” Angella asks, when Adora returns the book to her after a war meeting.

“Um,” Adora looks at the door. Catra is glancing through it and when she meets Angella’s eyes she scowls but nods at Adora and leaves. Adora’s hands start to shake and she pales again. Her skin nearly matches the milky whiteness of her eye. “Good, it was—”

Angella sits, placing the book on the table. “I won’t hold you for long. I’m just curious.”

“I—uh—”

“Adora,” Angella tries to say the name gently, “We got off to a rough start. I believe I misjudged you. Allow me to get to know you now. Did you like the book?”

Adora looks at the floor. “I didn’t read it. Um, it was hard with—it wasn’t written in regular Etherian and—and I have um—” Adora’s shoulders come up, like a cat trying to appear bigger, “dyslexia so when the writing was faded and then I got a headache and—I’m sorry.”

Angella flips through the pages, wincing as she looks over the words again. In her haste to be wise she forgot to be considerate. The letters are faded, the verse is unruly, and some of it isn’t even Etherian but in that ancient magicat tongue.

“It’s a book, Adora. Hardly the end of the world.”

Adora nods but Angella can see the reluctance. She supposes if she were She-Ra, most everything would feel like the end of the world. She gets to her feet and Adora stiffens.

“How about one a little easier on the eyes?” She leads her back to the library, through the shelves until she comes across a title she thinks might work. “Have you read The Serpent’s Pass?” She hands it to Adora, who thumbs through the pages. It’s a newer edition, with white paper and black ink, and even larger type. “I haven’t read it for awhile. You’ll have to tell me what you think.”

* * *

Each of the girls were left something for their journey. It would be a long one, they were warned, and difficult, and they would need every advantage they could get. The one without a right eye got the fur on her back, to survive the bitter winds of the harshest winters. The one missing her left eye was given claws on either hand for the toughest foes.

In a story like this the reader might expect the characters to covet the other’s gifts, but the two girls understood, even with their youth, that they were intended to work in tandem. That the cure would be unattainable if the two girls did not.

Angella is old enough to read shame for what it is when it slips into Magicat tongue at the end. Both girls had these gifts, the story whispers to Angella, all magicats do.

* * *

“Well?”

“Is it a true story?” Adora asks, the book still clutched in her hands.

“It is a myth, so I imagine there’s some scholarly debate.”

“Oh,” Adora looks far too downcast and Angella smiles. Neither of her daughters were avid readers. Glimmer only read to hold something over Catra.

“There is truth to it, if my memory serves me correctly. Did you like it?”

“It was—yes. I loved it.”

“If you liked that you should read Tlaloc’s Test,” Angella pulls another book off the shelf. “Calamity is a favorite character of mine.”

Adora reaches for it before her hand pauses, “Um, forgive me for asking but, why?”

“Why is Calamity my favorite character?”

“No, um,” she rubs the back of her neck, “Why do you want me to read it?”

Angella sighs.

“I will!” Adora quickly clarifies, “If it’s—if it’s important to the effort you know I will. Whatever will—” she reaches for the book but this time Angella moves it out of reach.

“It’s just a story,” Angella tells her. “You don’t have to read it if you don’t wish to.”

Adora stares at her and Angella feels like she just failed her own test.

* * *

Angella almost laughs when the tragedy of the story begins. It happens so immediately, so inevitably, she is surprised the book held any meaning at all for her youth. At what age did she begin to covet sadness? Now it feels as though it is all she owns.

The girls set off on their mission and are separated. Word for word, it is almost an exact translation. No explanation as to how, no pretty words to make it kinder, sadder, no art scrawled in the corners—just a few stains of saltwater.

The girl with the claws stayed put, the story reads, too close to her village, but where she and her companion first got lost from one another. She believed the other would come back for her, and she waited.

The story pleads with Angella, asking her what else could be done. She had one eye, the magicat girl, and her own people cast her out. What could she do? Where could she go?

She lived in those woods, alone, terrified, for twenty years. Traps surrounded her territory, and legends told of a monster that attacked all those who made it past them. She ate her meat raw, and made fires off the side of cold cave walls.

The other magicat believed her companion would meet her at the cure, and she set off alone to find it. On her way a band of travelers intercepted her and they promised to take her there.

Again the story pleads with Angella, asking her for solutions Angella is a millennia too late to give. What else could that little magicat girl do? She was young, and alone, and sick, and scared, and half-blind. Did she have another choice but to put her trust in others?

The travelers did not take her to the cure.

* * *

“Glimmer told me I should read the Mermystery series,” Adora tells her, handing back Tlaloc’s Test. “But I loved this one. I see why you like Calamity.”

Angella smiles, putting the book back on the shelf and leading Adora to the mystery section.

“She and Ichabod got me through most of my first few years as queen, I’ll admit.”

“Was it difficult?”

Angella nods, “A kingdom in transition is always a vulnerable one. I was not happy to be queen either. Oh, and here you are,” She pulls the book out, handing it to Adora.

Angella is a coward and she has accepted this, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be brave in little ways. She has a reservoir of bravery, somewhere lodged in a gut she thought she had ignored long enough for it to wither and die. And times like these, she manages to summon a few drops of that bravery and spit out something like: “I’m glad there’s another reader in the family, Adora. I was afraid this library would never get used.”

Adora’s eyes widen, “I—um—”

“I’m lucky Catra found you,” Angella continues, not even brave enough to look Adora in the eyes for this one, gaze trained on the book titles in front of her. “I would’ve hated to miss out on you.”

* * *

The magicat with the fur kept begging strangers for help, kept being led astray. And whenever she encountered the legend about the beast in the woods she would turn tail and run.

And the beast in the woods slowly succumbed to disease, becoming more beastly, more violent, more heartbroken. And the beggar on the streets slowly succumbed to disease, becoming more pitiful, more vulnerable, and even weaker.

And as the story goes, such is the way. That an animal caught in a trap will either chew their own leg off or beg their captor’s for mercy—and die either way.

And so the story goes, the two magicats died: alone and yearning and deeply lost.

* * *

Angella doesn’t wonder if Adora sets traps, lashes out, fears. She knows who Adora is, and she is only thankful the child is finally putting her trust in the right people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay this is a diff structure and pov so i really need you to be nice because i am super anxious about this one. i really hope you like it because ive been tooling around this one in my head ever since i was ten and a one legged pigeon landed on my hand and my brother said it was because he had no choice but then i remembered the neighborhood cat with one ear who bit me so i just wrote down that contradiction and then this struck me as a perfect outlet and anyway please please tell me you liked it
> 
> also there are two references to two other cartoons in here that have shaped me as a writer. one is pretty easy and i will give 50 words to whoever comments it first, the other is harder and is worth 500 words to whoever gets it.
> 
> I will see you next week for bow and adora as we explore their relationship post angella's funeral! Same place, slightly different time probably.
> 
> if you're mad you can write me on tumblr [@womenlovingwonderwoman](https://womenlovingwonderwoman.tumblr.com/) or find the ask that spawned this one shot on the tag [bid my mother](https://womenlovingwonderwoman.tumblr.com/tagged/bid-my-mother)
> 
> thanks to [iamascret](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamasecret/pseuds/iamasecret) for editing, she won't with future ones btw, i was just waaaay too anxious about this one. you should read her stories but also find her on tumblr at [@iamascret](https://iamasecret.tumblr.com/)
> 
> remember one comment is 500 words and since i still haven't written the entrapta and adora one shot and oh god the whole next installment and the one after that and fuck shit shit fuck fuck why am i doing this


	2. Adora and Bow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grief is hard, but it's easier when you're not alone.

“Good morning!”

Adora burst awake, drawing her knife and blinking as the light in the room changed.

“It is a beautiful day in Etheria and we are going to enjoy it!” 

She looked around for the source of the intruder and her eyes landed on Bow. Though the dark circles under his eyes matched her own he had clearly changed his clothes, showered, gone through the motions of being a real person. She hadn’t done that in days. 

“Bow?” 

“Glimmer won’t get out of bed again, and I’m guessing Catra never showed up last night so you and I are going to enjoy the pleasure of each other’s company!” 

Adora put the knife back under her pillow and watched as he finished opening the curtains. 

“But first a nutritious and delicious breakfast! How does that sound?” 

“I—” He looked over at her and all of Adora’s protestations suffocated in her throat. He really needed this didn’t he? When was the last time any of them had hung out, like really at all? “Sounds great!” 

Bow brightened. “I’ll leave you to get ready, shower, change, meet me in the kitchens okay? I’m gonna teach you how to make the breakfast to end all breakfasts! Just the way my dads did.” 

As soon as he left Adora shoved her face in a pillow, taking a deep breath as tears came as easily as they always had. The guilt and anger and fear all hit her at once and she leaped from the bed, rubbing her eyes. She had to focus on what mattered, on who mattered, right now. Bow mattered, she could give Bow his perfect day. She could do that.

She hopped in the shower and only let herself nearly collapse twice, letting water to wash the redness from her face. She changed into a new set of clothes, one of the replicas of her Horde uniform without the logo sewed on that had magically appeared in her closet. As she headed for the kitchens she noticed a new guard had been added to her detail, bringing the number up to six, never mind that she was She-Ra. 

“Adora,” Bow was wearing a white robe thing, he had tied around his waste, and he handed her one too. “Get excited for the best breakfast of your life!” 

She tied it around her waist, pasting on something resembling a grin, “What are we making?”

Bow held out a large pan, “They’re called ‘pancakes.’ You can make ‘em plain or with toppings like fruit or chocolate.” 

“So what’s first?” Adora asked and Bow’s smile turned a little more genuine. To her surprise, as did her own. 

* * *

“Okay,” Bow took out his tracker pad. “I want your official statement on pancakes.”

“Well,” Adora straightened, “Tech-Master Bow, I think we here in the Rebellion feel positively about pancakes. Certainly a variety of types and flavors are appreciated, but even just a plain pancake is enough to appease the pallet.”

He nodded seriously, taking down her quote, “Uh huh, uh huh, and what are your opinions on toppings?”

“Well, maple syrup is certainly a favorite, and a classic, and I understand why. But freshly whipped cream and sautéed apples certainly can add a lot.”

“Any comment on flavored syrups?”

“None at this time, thank you.” 

They dissolved into laughter and Bow put away his tracker, eating the last bite of the strawberry banana. It was practically lunch with how long it had taken to make all of them, especially since Bow insisted on using every type of fruit currently in season. 

“Oh sure there are traditional fruits used,” he had said, “but I don’t want to spoil your opinion! You have to try everything.” 

So they had literally tried everything. 

Peaches, and bananas, and avocados, and grapes, and pineapples, and tuna, and chocolate chips, and almonds, and cheese, and literally whatever Adora could find in the fridge, Bow chirped out a “sounds good,” and added it to the ever growing stack. 

Most of the feast was inedible and had to be thrown, apparently tuna wasn’t good with sweet things as much, but Adora was surprised at the ease of pancakes. Food, she was getting a handle on. It was one of the few real people things she felt like she got. 

“So what’s next?” She asked him, as they cleaned up their mess before the servants could get to it. 

His eyes sparkled, “I have the best surprise in the world for you.” 

He dragged her outside to the back of the palace where they kept most of the animals. Adora hadn’t spent much time there, Catra had given her a tour and wrinkled her nose when they passed by it. 

“So it’s come to my attention there wasn’t a lot of nature in the Fright Zone,” Bow said, leading her by the arm. 

“Who told you that?” 

“Adora,” he leveled her with a look, “you just tried to make tuna pancakes.” 

“Fair.” 

“So I thought we could start you off small with some of the animals they have around here! They’ve got a new litter of puppies and—”

“What. Is. That.” Adora’s eyes widened on a creature so beautiful she couldn’t begin to fully take in its form. The eyes beget a wisdom unbecoming for the planet and its gentle mane of hair rustled in the breeze. 

“Uh, that’s a few levels up.”

“It’s majestic,” Adora whispered. 

“You wanna meet it?” 

“What! No!” 

Bow pushed her over, “Now hold out your hand, see, he likes you.” Adora whimpered but the beast only gently huffed at her hand. “He’s called a horse.” 

“He’s _amazing_.” 

She looked back at Bow and he was grinning. “I can show you how to brush him?” 

Adora nodded, unable to keep the eagerness off her face. 

Horses were definitely the best thing in the world since food that wasn’t ration bars. By the end of the afternoon Adora was being led on a careful walk around the course, Bow holding onto the reins as she did. 

“Catra hates horses,” Bow told her. “She says it’s about their smell, but I think she probably got thrown off them once when she was little. Glimmer thinks she used her claws on accident.”

Adora winced, “Ouch.” 

“But horseback riding is the same as everything else,” Bow told her. “You’re gonna get thrown off, and you just gotta get back on.” 

Adora nodded, patting the horsey’s neck. He was too much of a sweetheart to throw her off. 

“So what’s after this?” She asked. 

He bounced a little, “There is gonna be a killer party tonight at Sea Worthy! Sea Hawk got me an invite.”

“A killer—what?” 

His expression dropped. “A party? Like a fun celebration with your friends?” 

Adora blinked at him. 

“No parties? What about birthdays?”

“Oh!” Adora nodded. “Yes. Birthdays. I love those.”

“No birthdays either? Okay we are definitely fixing that,” he forced a smile on. “But Adora, I am gonna take you to your first party!” 

Bow promised they would get ready together but after a quick dinner he ran off to get his custom made crop suit and left Adora to the throes of her closet. If he was wearing a suit should she wear one? What did semi-formal-cocktail-causal even mean?

“You know you can’t go, right?” 

Adora turned around. 

“Catra?” 

Catra’s eyes were red, her ears pinned pinned back, her clothes wrinkled enough she had probably slept in them. 

“Sea Worthy is neutral, meaning it’s swarming with Horde soldiers. We still don’t know who killed my mom, or how, or why,” Catra said. “You can’t risk it.”

“Hey,” Adora stepped closer but Catra just looked down. 

“I need to get back to work. We’ll—we’ll talk soon. Okay?” 

“Catra,” Adora reached out a hand but Catra was already ducking for the exit. 

“I’m adding another guard to your entourage, and my aunt Casta is coming in tomorrow to help with my dad. We just have to get through the coronation. Once there’s a peaceful transfer—”

“Please, Catra,” Adora tried again but Catra was already mostly through the door.

“I’ll see you tonight.”

The door shut and Adora sighed, laying back on her bed. 

She’d be annoyed if it wasn’t clear how terrified Catra was. Until they got answers there was no way Catra would feel safe, especially not at the mantle of her mother’s death. 

Bow showed up again fifteen minutes later and laid next to her. 

“Axe told you?” Adora asked. 

He nodded. 

“I’m sorry,” he took her hand. “You’ll get to go to your first party soon.” 

She smiled at him, “Thanks for today anyway, Bow. I needed it.”

He smiled too, “We’re the best friend squad. We’ll get through this.” 

And laying next to him like that, hearing the confidence in his exhausted voice, it wasn’t hard to believe. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening party people! I'm so happy y'all liked my previous one shot considering how anxious i was to write it but we're back in adora pov for this one! And we have one one-shot left after this one with Entrapta and Adora! (if you have anything you want me to include in it feel free to leave me a comment! nothing is set in stone as of yet!) and if you want me to write 500 words of this au leave a comment too!!! it's the only thing that keeps me writing!
> 
> Please bother me to write on my tumblr (i have not been doing it enough) by dropping me asks at [@womenlovingwonderwoman](https://womenlovingwonderwoman.tumblr.com/)  
> if you want to see tumblr-exclusive content where i reveal more about the characters and also reblog fanart go to the [bid my mother](https://womenlovingwonderwoman.tumblr.com/tagged/bid-my-mother) tag on that blog
> 
> this was also unbeta'd if you couldn't tell. i'm about to put [@iamascret](https://iamasecret.tumblr.com/) through hell with a superhero au im working on so i thought i'd give her a break with these one shots
> 
> See you next week! (god I hope so)


	3. Adora and Entrapta

“Prisoner 319,” Adora called, opening the door. 

The princess was messing with her manacles and Adora’s eye twitched. 

“What are you doing?” 

In a flash, the princess moved back against the wall, hair going back into the cuffs Adora had specially made. 

Princess Entrapta glared at her, “Oh. You’re that girl who threatened to break my tapes.” 

Adora’s hand twitched around her stun baton, “I’m the Force Captain that liberated the kingdom of Dryl from you and rescued the people here from your army of evil robots.” 

“And then you broke and burned the chip! I’ll never get the results from that experiment now!” Entrapta told her. 

Adora grit her teeth. 

“I’ve just come here to tell you that we aren’t relocating you to the prisons in the Fright Zone. It’s good news considering it halves your chances of getting sent to Beast Island.”

Entrapta blinked at her, “Beast Island? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Good,” Adora said. 

* * *

“Where is she?” Entrapta asked, walking up and down the length of her cell. 

She always did that with Adora, Adora on one side of the bars, her on the other. They would walk and walk and Entrapta would work on something and Adora would talk about something or something and they would walk and walk and walk and walk and

“That is none of your concern,” the Shadow Lady said. “Now unless you have alternate plans for the evening, I suggest you cease your pacing before I have you restrained.” 

“How would I have alternate plans? You have me locked up, I don’t understand.” 

“Silence,” the Shadow Lady grew her form exponentially, likely with the use of magic or some sort of illusory device. Entrapta could probably cook something similar up for Adora if she wanted it, but she never seemed too invested in Entrapta’s machines. She was nice enough to pick up that First One’s tech for her though. Entrapta would have to remember to thank her.

Adora!

“Where’s Adora? She usually brings me my dinner and we talk,” Entrapta told her. “I’m supposed to have dinner and talk with her.” 

“I told you that was none of your concern,” the Shadow Lady loomed larger. 

“But I’m concerned about her. Doesn’t that make it my concern?” Entrapta asked. 

“Adora is indisposed,” the Shadow Lady said. “You would do well not to speak of her again.” 

“Why not?” 

“Because I will shave your head,” the woman said. 

Entrapta’s heart pounded and she moved back against the wall. “I want to talk to Adora.” 

The Shadow Lady left. 

* * *

“So what are you working on?” Adora asked, finishing her ration bar. 

Entrapta flicked her mask up and took a bite from the ration bar she had requested cut into tiny pieces. She was lucky Adora was absurdly patient. “What am I working on when?” 

“That,” Adora pointed at the device in Entrapta’s hands. 

“Oh!” Entrapta’s eyes lit up. “This is a stun baton I took from Kyle last night. I’ve managed to amp up the electricity so you can choose how many volts to give someone. Instead of just stunning them you can now amp it up to killing.” 

Adora’s heart stopped, she gaped at the weapon in Entrapta’s hand. 

“Would you—um—give it here?” 

Entrapta tossed it through the bars of the cell. “What do you think? Do you like the design?” 

“Um,” Adora took it gingerly. “Would it be possible for you um, to design it so it doesn’t kill but it can knock out?” 

“Oooh!” Entrapta nodded, “More of a challenge! Yes!” She grabbed it back and Adora stared at her. 

“Why are you—why are you helping us? We stole your kingdom. We imprisoned you.”

Entrapta waved a hand, “This is the most company I’ve gotten since my parents died. The food is worse though.” She looked at Adora, “Can you change the food?”

“No.”

Entrapta frowned, “Oh.” 

* * *

“Well?” The non-magical princess asked. Her foot was tapping and her arms were crossed and her tail was waving around. 

Entrapta blinked at her, “Well, what?”

“Well what killed her?” Her voice rose. 

Entrapta looked at the body, “Oh! Yes! I didn’t know immortal angels could die, actually.” 

“Neither did I, but considering she was the last of her kind,” the princess was walking around the room. “I haven’t found anything in her writing talking about it. She never wrote down anything about her childhood or her past, and she never talked about it either.”

The princess kept going but, like Entrapta did with Adora, she tuned it out, focusing on the eerie red marks along the angel’s neck. She took some photos, some samples, looked at it under a magnifying glass. 

“I need more data,” Entrapta announced, getting to her feet and the princess looked at her, “and I need to test these samples.”

“Data from what?”

“Magical injuries,” Entrapta said. “I don’t know as much about it but—”

“Wait,” the princess walked way into Entrapta’s personal space and Entrapta hid her hair behind her. “It was magical? I thought it was poison, they said it was right after she ate a meal they said—”

“No it was magic,” Entrapta said. “From what I’ve seen of magical injuries it follows the same pattern and gives off the same signal as it. I would have to see—”

“Gives off the same signal as what, Entrapta?” The princess interrupted. Adora said it was rude to interrupt. 

“As Shadow Weaver’s signal,” Entrapta explained. The princess stepped back, eyes widening. “She’s a Force Captain in the Horde that always used to hurt Adora. Once Adora let me examine her injury so I’d be able to make more painful magical weapons and the signal looks similar. Though I need more data and to test these.” She wiggled the samples.

“You’re telling me Shadow Weaver walked through the palace doors, used her magic to kill an immortal angelic queen, and then walked out without a witness?” 

Entrapta cocked her head, “It’s a theory. Have you never seen her shadow spies?” 

The princess started scratching at the walls and screaming like she was in pain but then she got mad at Entrapta when Entrapta asked if she should get Adora so Entrapta left. 

She didn’t get it, Adora always cheered her up. 

* * *

“You’re limping,” Entrapta pointed out and Adora winced. She thought it was subtle enough Entrapta wouldn’t point it out. Certainly Cadet Lonnie hadn’t. 

“Yes,” she settled for. Sometimes Entrapta would be too focused on her inventions to pay Adora much mind. 

“Why?” 

“Aren’t you working on something? A complex radar or something?”

“Adora,” Entrapta straightened up to look at her and Adora bit back the obligatory Force Captain Adora, she wanted to correct her with. “In sixty-eight percent of our conversations in which I inquire into your welfare you ask another question instead of answering mine. In another twenty-two percent you say it’s none of my business, and in the remaining ten percent your voice pitches higher and you speak quickly. You begin to perspire and leave quickly after which, from my research on human conversation, leads me to theorize you aren’t being honest.” 

“Did you make a graph?”

Entrapta pulled out a pie chart from her hair, showing it off, “I miss pies. Can I have some mini ones? Like my staff used to make me?”

“No,” Adora said. Then, “I’ll look into it.”

“Thank you!” Entrapta smiled, throwing the chart back into her hair. “Now why are you limping?” 

Adora sighed, “My leg gives me trouble sometimes. I got hurt when I was little and it never really healed right.” 

Entrapta tapped her mouth with a pencil that had come from nowhere, “Maybe I can make you a brace. I’ve never experimented with medical equipment before. Can I see?” 

Adora gritted her teeth but nodded, rolling up her pant leg to her knee to show off some of the scarring. 

“How did it get injured?” 

Adora looked away, “I really don’t wanna talk about it.” 

* * *

The princess had Entrapta dragged back in only a few day later, and she walked up and down the length of the room. When Entrapta walked in she glared and advanced into her personal space again. 

“Did you tell Adora anything?” The princess asked. 

Entrapta blinked at her, “I’ve told Adora lots of things! Did you know they don’t teach about about lab safety in the Horde? It’s—”

“No,” the princess towered over her, claws extended and Entrapta felt herself shrink down, her hair in ponytails going behind her. “Did you tell her what we talked about in here? About the, um, the queen?” 

“No,” Entrapta said. “I haven’t seen her much since we got back.” Entrapta frowned, Adora was one of her only friends here and that Bow kid had been nice but it seemed like the entire palace was very busy. She missed Dryl: her robots never made her feel lonely. 

“Good,” the princess nodded, stepping away. “Good. I need you to do me a favor.” 

Entrapta blinked, “Do you want me to build you something?” 

“No I need you to keep what we talked about in here between us. A secret. You can’t tell Adora.” 

“But friends aren’t supposed to keep secrets from one another,” Entrapta pointed out. 

She had definitely read about that when she briefly experimented in friendship during her adolescence. One of her only failed experiments, but she should open that folder back up now that she had Adora. Clearly something changed. 

“But friends are supposed to keep each other’s secrets,” the princess said. Entrapta furrowed her brow, trying to remember if she was keeping any of Adora’s secrets. “We’re friends, Entrapta,” the princess said. 

Entrapta stared at her, “We are?” 

“Yes,” the princess said. “Of course we are! We went on adventure together, we live in the same palace, we’re definitely friends. So I need you to keep this secret for me.”

“But I can’t even remember your name,” Entrapta pointed out. 

The princess rubbed her forehead, like maybe there was an itch. “I’m Catra.” 

Entrapta smiled, “Yay!” She patted Catra’s head with one of her pigtails, friends didn’t shave each other’s heads, right? “Hi Catra!” 

“Hi Entrapta,” Catra said. “So if Adora asks you tell her it was poison, okay?” 

“But—you want me to lie? Isn’t lying not good for friendships?” Entrapta asked. She took out a notepad and paper. 

“When you’re protecting your friends anything goes,” Catra told her. “Sometimes you need to lie for the greater good.” Entrapta wrote it down, she also wrote down: buy tape recorder. 

The door opened, one of the soldiers coming in. 

“Good news! I think I’ve worked out a way to get a message to Axe,” he glanced at Entrapta. “Shit.”

Catra let out a breath of air, “Entrapta have you met Axe?” Entrapta shook her head. “This is Bow’s brother, Axe, who talks about himself in the third person.”

He smiled, “Yes. I’m so sorry, your majesty, I had no idea you were busy. I just thought you would want to know Adora and Bow are planning on going out tonight.”

Catra rubbed her eyes. 

“Do you want eye drops?” Entrapta asked. 

Catra glanced at her, “Um, no thanks. Are we good? Do you understand?” 

“Yup!” Entrapta held up her hand for a high-five and Catra gave her one. “I’ll see you later! Ooh, we should have a movie night.” She made a mental note to keep a list of friend activities she and Catra could do together and barely noticed she was led out. 

* * *

“You promised us a new radar system,” the Shadow Lady said. “Adora reported your tech skills as more advanced than what you have given us. Don’t tell me our best Force Captain was lying.”

Entrapta crossed her arms, even if she couldn’t help the involuntary step back “Unless you tell me where she is and why she won’t see me I won’t build anything for you. She’s my friend and I don’t help people who hurt my friends!” 

The Shadow Lady loomed large, “She was your jailer, now she has moved onto bigger and better things. Either get used to me, or get a one way ticket to Beast Island.” 

Entrapta considered it. Perhaps the Shadow Lady was suggesting it because Adora was there? Adora never wanted to go there so maybe she needed Entrapta to rescue her? Entrapta could do that, she would have to bring a few data cores but it would be fine. She nodded to herself and looked back at the Shadow Lady expectantly. 

The Shadow Lady looked back. 

“Oh!” Entrapta realized, “I’ll take the ticket to Beast Island, please.” 

* * *

Adora ran down to the halls of Dry, easily navigating the maze like infrastructure to the cell. She slammed the door open and slammed the door shut, locking it as she slid back against it. 

Entrapta blinked at her, her eyes wide and lit up from behind her mask, a blow torch going. 

“I’m good,” Adora lied. “Just need a minute.”

Entrapta turned back to her machine. 

At least Entrapta didn’t want anything from her, anything except some better food. 

Adora would work on that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay not gonna lie i'm not super happy with the way this turned out but! i don't care. it's no longer my problem
> 
> so, first off, huge thank you to Dawn from apple support who, in my panic, retrieved all of the files (including this one) that had accidentally gotten deleted. I couldn't have done it without you girl. that's also why this chapter is a weeeeeee bit late. everyone say thank you Dawn
> 
> if you followed me on tumblr you would've gotten news of this much faster so ! follow me ! [@womenlovingwonderwoman](https://womenlovingwonderwoman.tumblr.com/) All of the stuff for this au is filed under [bid my mother](https://womenlovingwonderwoman.tumblr.com/tagged/bid-my-mother)
> 
> please let me know what you think of this chapter! it was my first time writing an autistic character's perspective and i really didn't wanna fuck it up. so if i did fuck it up plz tell me! that's the only hate i'll receive! otherwise! leave a comment for 500 words, and there's one reference to a tv show in here so comment what the reference is and I'll write 50 words for you! 
> 
> the next story is gonna have a coronation, and it's gonna come out in a few weeks. So please subscribe to the series and stay tuned for that. i've written the last 1000 words, now I just have to write the first 19k, or however long it'll be. it's gonna be super angsty and good with a lot of fun twists and shit. get hyped!!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Good evening party people! I'm so happy y'all liked my previous one shot considering how anxious i was to write it but we're back in adora pov for this one! And we have one one-shot left after this one with Entrapta and Adora! (if you have anything you want me to include in it feel free to leave me a comment! nothing is set in stone as of yet!) and if you want me to write 500 words of this au leave a comment too!!! it's the only thing that keeps me writing!
> 
> Please bother me to write on my tumblr (i have not been doing it enough) by dropping me asks at [@womenlovingwonderwoman](https://womenlovingwonderwoman.tumblr.com/)  
> if you want to see tumblr-exclusive content where i reveal more about the characters and also reblog fanart go to the [bid my mother](https://womenlovingwonderwoman.tumblr.com/tagged/bid-my-mother) tag on that blog
> 
> this was also unbeta'd if you couldn't tell. i'm about to put [@iamascret](https://iamasecret.tumblr.com/) through hell with a superhero au im working on so i thought i'd give her a break with these one shots
> 
> See you next week! (god I hope so)


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